Ho Hum

Well.. soccer is over. It's cold and blah outside, that pretty much sums up what is going on. Our soccer season wasn't great and wasn't awful. There were a lot of broken bones, stitches, staples, and injuries in general between both teams. Since I had to play in every single game I didn't bother to take my camera anywhere.
We went to the Nelson Art Gallery in KC this week, unfortunately we spent 10 hours on a bus and only 2 in the gallery. We did get to watch a really wacky movie on the way back home that spoofed old sci-fi movies.
Here is a Painting(?) from my Drawing II Class.. it is Brush & India Ink. My first attempt other than some drapery which turned out horrible.

Meet the Neighbors.

So when I came home from afternoon practice yesterday the neighbor's dog was outside tied to the clothes line pole again. It started yapping away as soon as I stepped out of the car so I decided to go check her out. It's a tiny little Blue Heeler - Pit bull mix with a Ton of energy! After some initial sniffing I was good to go for petting and playing with the mini dog. I went in after a couple of minutes to wash up, remove the ice bag from my leg, and scarf some dinner. I went back out afterwards with my mini soccer ball since the dog was still out there and obviously bored and yapping at everything. We played for a bit then the neighbors came out a bit bewildered looking. Apparently their dog doesn't usually get along with other people so they were quite surprised I was playing with it.
Long story short - we sat on the back porch for awhile taking turns playing fetch and chatting. They are nice folks and her name is Katie also. They are newlyweds (two weeks) and are both from here in Lyons. We eventually wore the dog out and I was tired of swatting those blasted mosquitoes so we parted ways.

Roasty Toasty First Win!

Because Ron jokingly said I'd be getting a great tan out in this fantastic (all sarcasm implied) sunny weather I wanted to show off just the kind of tan lines a goalie gets! Yes, gloves to sleeve, knee caps, and that's it.
Today was our first game- the Alumni match! Where we whoop up the old...er people my age... in a game of soccer. The score: 8-1, or maybe higher I forgot to look at the scoreboard after the game ended but we definitely won. I did get to make a couple of decent saves, and finally some distribution practice. I think we played fairly well for having a lot of new players on the team. We did however get pretty slow toward the end of the second half which was a problem last year. We will get better though; our first week of practice is really intense (run run run run..) so we are a bit tired.
I didn't stick around for all of the Men's game but the Alumni were making the defense look non existent. I really hope they were all just tired like us, otherwise its going to be an interesting season. The shining moment of the game for me was the goalie from last year making a diving header for an Alumni goal. I left the field at half time..enough sun for one day!

If I were a Solar Panel...

That's right.. if I were a solar panel running around out there in the 95+ degree sunshine I would either have an endless supply of energy or spontaneously combust. We start our morning practice at 7am which seems to be mosquito prime time! Everyone shares the bug spray or else! One girl had bloody spots and welts all over the back of her legs from being bitten so many times.
So the past two days have consisted of Eat/Run/Soccer/Sleep/Eat/Soccer/Sleep. Yes.. that is the entire day.
Other then that there have just been some slight quirky things going on here in Lyons. My first attempt to use the hot water I knew would be scary. After about 30 seconds or so of running this brown/rust color water started coming out. Needless to say I went to the grocery store and picked up a couple of Cheapo Gallons of Spring Water. The other oddity is the power keeps going out during the heat of the day. Not long enough to reset all the clocks but enough to kill the AC for a sec, and my computer.
I have still yet to see the new neighbor's mystery animal. Whatever it is makes their trash can stink though.

Time to sleep again..

Landed!

No snazzy photo for this one!
I've made it back to Lyons, KS! It was pretty dark when I got here so I couldn't see much new stuff if there was any, and I didn't drive all the way to the end of town where a new store was going in last time I was here. There is however what appeared to be a brand new hotel!!!
I already have some new Duplex neighbors, they had a monster pickup truck parked in the driveway that I had to ask them to move. I will miss the crazy old neighbor I had. Hopefully I have the same peace and quiet...
I'm not sure how hot it was inside the duplex here but the Thermostat was at its maximum point which looks like about 90 degrees. I'm definitely not going to try to sleep till cools off a bit.
I unpacked some stuff and already replaced one light bulb (this place eats them). I'll save the rest for tomorrow when i'm not beckoning all the moths to move in too!

DJ Tiamat!

Check him out.. DJ Tiamat! (Tee-ah-Maht)

I finally got to go see him perform at the Lotus Lounge in Overland Park KS! My favorite DJ! (Except maybe to Moby) After probably a year of avoiding scary downtown venues or being away at college I finally got to see him perform live!! A fantastic time despite not having an ounce of dance ability. I was content to enjoy the beats and try to figure out what all the knobs, buttons, and switches did.

It certainly looks like lots of fun, but not something I would want to try in front of a big crowd. I did play with the CD vinyl emulator thing.

I am anxious to go hear him spin again before I head back to the middle of KS! Next time I will have to take a nap before I go so I can stay a little longer.

Super Running Man

From the KCCC track meet.. and yes he did run around the track with that on!

Soccer Toes

I'm sad to say that this didn't come out near as good on my Black & White film prints. Check out those blister scars! This was for our "Available Light" assignment.

Finals...

Yep, this is how finals makes me feel too!

2:15 AM

I was awakened by Rain blasting the North side window which doesn't have a storm screen on the outside. I decided to get up and check the weather to see if anything Extreme was heading this way.
Hope the windows hold up, its starting to hail!

**edit after reading the actual warning**
"IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM... PREPARE IMMEDIATELY FOR DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS."

Soccer Camp!!

Here are some photos from the soccer camp we are running this week for the kids here in Sterling. Nothing is as fun watching these tiny kids chasing down and trying to kick a ball thats half the size they are!!

Warriors FTW!!

Congrats to the Lady Warriors Basketball team for winning the KCAC Regular season, and tournament Championship! Both of the final two games were very close and intense. We also earned KCAC Coach of the year who is also the "Winning-est" coach in all of KS; as well as KCAC player of the year! Several other players on the team won various different awards also. It was pretty fun to cheer on a great team!

Determined

I finished processing my second roll of film this afternoon. Almost all of the photos are visible this time but we have determined that there is definitely light leaking into the camera some how.
The Prof. and I decided that for the next roll of film I should electrical tape the outer edges of the camera to see if it helps out..

The ankle despite looks is doing fairly well; by the end of each day it gets pretty irritated though...No running or soccer this week, maybe next.

This is test week for me. I took a photography test this morning, and have a History test tomorrow, and my Art History test on Friday. We are finally getting to our Uber 10 page research paper for Composition that is supposed to take the entire last half of the semester to complete.

Time for some savory tamales and chocolate b-day cake!

Twenty and Six

Sing it with me now.. umm.. to me.. "Happy Birthday to you ..."

Not counting another bizarre round of weather and a gimpy ankle I had a pretty nice weekend! Mom and Dad came to visit me here in Lyons toting their brand new High Rise air mattresses. :)
They also brought me a cooler full of goodies to cook since the selection down here is kind of limited. School friends are fun, but family company is much better!

We didn't fare so well in the indoor soccer tournament; we won the first game but lost the next two-ending our short visit to Barton Community College in Great Bend. I sat on the bench with the team and snapped some photos with the 35mm camera for photography class. The field was down in a gym and had a weird tile floor that was fairly hard but didn't let the ball bounce as much as normal. The goals were pretty much the size of standard indoor goals. Wish I could have played.. but we still have a couple more tournaments before the end of the school year.

Ouch?

Hmm.... indoor soccer on the wooden basketball floor. I now know why 90% of the volleyball team wear mega ankle braces when they play.

Shame there is an indoor soccer tournament this weekend that I won't get to play in now.

I wonder how well i'll be able to sleep tonight...

Driving Scenes

The neighbor says.. I haven't seen this much snow since I was a kid!!!
I've spent the last week or two driving through some interesting stuff now.
Sometimes the wind blows so hard it doesn't stick to the road but it sure freezes anything to your car windows. I set the camera on the dash and took some photos while trekking.

:)

Not much to say for the weekend..
Rented a couple of movies and took some photos.
Sure was nice out!
Some photos are just more fun in color.

A close inspection of the merry go round.

Hello Photo

I've spent the evening playing with all the different lenses for the loaner camera I received today from the Photog Prof. It came in a suitcase with lots of goodies. Unfortunately the light meter doesn't work on it so I'm using my digital camera as a test meter, and hopefully they will be fairly close in exposures. Otherwise my first roll will just be a lab experiment. Which i'm hoping not because I spent a lot of time focusing and framing the photos i've taken so far. I think we might get to start developing our film Monday.
Here's another weird one for you.

A blog of Relief

Uh huh yes, it is well past my bed time, but I spent several hours working on an essay and my brain needs time to relax before I try to sleep. Otherwise I'll be laying there writing more things down in my head instead of sleeping.
Today was overall a great day! We finally got our first shooting assignment in photography class: Small texture and detail. Needless to say I am as thrilled as kid who's just been told recess will be extended an extra 10 minutes. Sooo.. expect some unusual black & white photos on here for a little while.
The soccer team also got together for a spaghetti dinner this evening. It was a great time, and some yummy food. No meatballs just tomatoes hehe. Its good to have a nice non conditioning (run run run) get together every now and then.
Looking forward to the weekend already 40+ weather, so I can get outside and take some interesting photos. Hooray! (the photo is of a door knob)

Sub Zero Fun

..and I'm not talking about video games, I'm referring to that thing outside the heated house.. yep the weather. Combined with winds (wind here? nah..) We are expecting a bitter -3 tonight. It already feels every bit that cold now!

I went to my first Sterling College basketball game this evening and had some great live entertainment for a change! Both the guys/girls had home games vs. Ottawa U. The girls team walked all over their opponents. I'm still not sure how Ottawa got as many points as they did, despite the tromping it was still a fun game to watch. The guys game was even better! The Warriors started off behind then they caught up and went back and forth all the way to the last few minutes of the game. The final score for the guys win was 72-70, it was a real fist clinching, breath holding, period for about the last 30 seconds of the game.
I didn't get any great photos, I'll have to practice more inside action shots. I stayed up in the bleachers which may have made it a bit more difficult.
Above is the final score from the Lady Warriors win.

Hold Thy Nose..

The water is exceptionally more stinky than normal today! When I got out the shower I could hardly smell soap; I smelled more like someone who had just bathed in a swimming pool. I had to put a bunch of lotion on so I would stop smelling the chlorine smell.
I just cleaned my lunch dish which again smelled like pool water. Silly me even stuck my nose down near the faucet to get a real dose... what was I thinking?! I think i lost some brain cells..

Sleeping on the Job

This photo is the result of having to entertain myself this weekend. Having a little fun with an old phrase. By the way the pants I'm wearing are the most comfy warm pants in existence-I'm certain!
The first week back in school has officially come to an end! I am pretty happy with my schedule selection, with exception to photography. After two days with this teacher I was wavering on whether to drop the class until a more competent teacher was brought in, but I have decided that I should take it upon myself to make it a profitable class for myself. I know that if I am sincere in my effort I will be happy with the results. I will just have to read up on my own if need be; especially when it comes time for developing.

Behold...

... the power of The Hat...

That's right folks that the chicken hat holds the mysterious power of ending a class when it's time for it to end.

Our Comp teacher was being a little long winded and it was past time to go. My classmate nudged me and said "Tell him it's time to go!" I quickly pondered, and instead donned the mighty chicken hat! The teacher immediately gazed upon the hat and said "Oh! Don't put that on it will make Laugh! Class is dismissed!"
Mission Accomplished...

Not Again!

We wake up this morning to 40+ mph winds.. What does that mean? Well apparently it is causing trouble with power lines. My electricity was once again disrupted this morning!
I imagine its dislodging and sending already broken tree limbs to new locations.
Grrr...

Waah!

Yes, that is Waah! like a crybaby. Why so Waah? Well, all kinds of fun reasons. The big #1 being missing Ron, usually we get to chat but since he is basking in the sun on a cruise ship I get no Ron access at all.. nada!
The other lesser reasons are of course winter and boo for having to write two essays already for 2 different classes! I guess they didn't get the memo that said "Hand out syllabus and send the kids on their merry path"! (dreaming huh?) To top off the Waah, the other Art Professor decided to leave the department. Sooo the guy that was teaching two of my classes this semester is Poof gone! Art History.. not a big deal .. but photography... thats not cool! The replacement teacher who learned of his new job yesterday seems to be One kettle short of a tea party...I think i'll go eat my Thin mints and let chocolate make the world a better place!

Return to Lyons

Yes.. I have once again completed my random migratory journey from ..Lyons --> Kansas City ---> Lyons.. once again. Everything was as I left it, and even the plant survived while I was gone.
It was good to go back to the norm and see my family, bf, dogs, and squeeze in some work for that book & food funding. Christmas & New Years went like normal, I do have to say I didn't get the one thing I wanted for Christmas.. and pouting will get me nowhere. I am excited to use my new cooking utensils i received in my presents. My pancake mix is one of the few edible survivors of the power outage! My fridge is barren except for a couple cans of v8, Jones Soda, and random condiments. Nothing bums you out like coming home to an empty fridge!
School starts in two days and I think I'm going to be pretty busy this semester. The class I'm looking forward to most is Photography - surprise huh? I am most curious about my Mass Media class. It was a part of my "former" Major, and I decided to take it anyway.
It looks like most of the city has its power back on. There are still huge piles of snow and the one street I drove down had a couple houses with piles of tree limbs stacked in the front yard. It will be interesting to see how things turned out when the sun comes up tomorrow. Time to finish my laundry and get some Zzz. Time also to start missing my nice comfy bed again.